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Authors: Rebecca Tope
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to help get the house straight or some such nonsense.’
They were approaching the edge of the wood, where the road ran through the centre of Cranham. ‘I go that way,’ said Thyrza Hastings, tilting her chin to the right.
‘And I’m straight over the road,’ said Thea, sounding more certain than she really was. The light was fading fast and she had emerged onto a different point from the one she knew.
‘You can see the Manor from the corner there,’ said the woman, with a glimmer of humour. ‘It’s easy to lose your bearings around here.’
‘Thank you. Maybe I’ll see you again.’
‘Maybe you will. Goodnight, then, Thea Osborne.’
‘Goodnight,’ said Thea, impressed that her name had been so accurately noted.
She passed Donny’s Lodge as she turned into the driveway of Hollywell Manor. There was a light ondownstairs, and the front window was open. She glimpsed, without taking any proper notice, the back of a car parked around the side of the house. In the twilight, she gained no clear impression of its colour or make. Voices floated from the open window, which she took to be the television at first. The absence of close neighbours made it unobjectionable to anybody, she supposed, although it was rather loud.
‘No, I will not!’ came a man’s raised voice. ‘I’ve told you a thousand times, damn it.’
‘For heaven’s sake,’ a woman replied. ‘Calm down, will you?’
‘Don’t patronise me!’ he almost screamed. ‘Don’t be so bloody condescending all the time.’
Thea realised that it was Donny’s shrill old-man tones she was hearing. Presumably Jemima had come to see him, and an argument had developed. Well, she thought – it’s none of my business, and she hurried up to the Manor, where her eager dog welcomed her as if she’d been away for a month.
Chapter Five
She ended the day with a glass of wine that she felt had been well earned. The geckoes were stirring when she paid them a bedtime visit. ‘I suppose this is the start of your day, not the end,’ she murmured to them. A greeny-grey tail flicked at her from behind a large leaf. She activated the water spray over the somnolent eggs, imagining the tiny reptiles curled inside them. It was sweet to think of the new lives quietly incubating, unaware of their future existence in captivity, at the whim of feckless humans. ‘Sleep tight,’ she crooned softly to them.
Tuesday morning was another uncertain day, weather-wise . High white cloud almost covered the sky, but there were encouraging patches of blue here and there. Thea and her dog had woken early, slowly surfacingto greet the morning and learn more about the people of Cranham. Outside, all was quiet and still.
Drew, she remembered, was coming that afternoon. The fresh-faced undertaker, who looked younger than his thirty-eight years. Drew was witty and bright, the best possible fun to talk to. It would be a treat to see him again.
She pottered through breakfast before taking a circuit of the garden with Hepzie, her mind more or less empty as she savoured the new day. In a while, she would mash up some banana for the geckoes and do a bit of dusting in the big living room. She had bought everything she needed for the next day or two – bread, biscuits, milk, eggs and more meat for herself and the dog in the woods.
The dog! That was her most urgent consideration for the coming morning. She should take more food for it – a much more difficult task in broad daylight, with the risk of being seen by passing walkers or cyclists. And the necessity of leaving Hepzie behind meant that she should go for another walk with her own dog, in a different direction. Suddenly she felt much busier, having forgotten for the moment her new responsibility.
Most dogs only fed once a day, in her experience. Perhaps, then, the new mother could wait at least until the afternoon. That would leave Thea with a pleasingly lazy morning, reading, emailing one or two people and not
They were approaching the edge of the wood, where the road ran through the centre of Cranham. ‘I go that way,’ said Thyrza Hastings, tilting her chin to the right.
‘And I’m straight over the road,’ said Thea, sounding more certain than she really was. The light was fading fast and she had emerged onto a different point from the one she knew.
‘You can see the Manor from the corner there,’ said the woman, with a glimmer of humour. ‘It’s easy to lose your bearings around here.’
‘Thank you. Maybe I’ll see you again.’
‘Maybe you will. Goodnight, then, Thea Osborne.’
‘Goodnight,’ said Thea, impressed that her name had been so accurately noted.
She passed Donny’s Lodge as she turned into the driveway of Hollywell Manor. There was a light ondownstairs, and the front window was open. She glimpsed, without taking any proper notice, the back of a car parked around the side of the house. In the twilight, she gained no clear impression of its colour or make. Voices floated from the open window, which she took to be the television at first. The absence of close neighbours made it unobjectionable to anybody, she supposed, although it was rather loud.
‘No, I will not!’ came a man’s raised voice. ‘I’ve told you a thousand times, damn it.’
‘For heaven’s sake,’ a woman replied. ‘Calm down, will you?’
‘Don’t patronise me!’ he almost screamed. ‘Don’t be so bloody condescending all the time.’
Thea realised that it was Donny’s shrill old-man tones she was hearing. Presumably Jemima had come to see him, and an argument had developed. Well, she thought – it’s none of my business, and she hurried up to the Manor, where her eager dog welcomed her as if she’d been away for a month.
Chapter Five
She ended the day with a glass of wine that she felt had been well earned. The geckoes were stirring when she paid them a bedtime visit. ‘I suppose this is the start of your day, not the end,’ she murmured to them. A greeny-grey tail flicked at her from behind a large leaf. She activated the water spray over the somnolent eggs, imagining the tiny reptiles curled inside them. It was sweet to think of the new lives quietly incubating, unaware of their future existence in captivity, at the whim of feckless humans. ‘Sleep tight,’ she crooned softly to them.
Tuesday morning was another uncertain day, weather-wise . High white cloud almost covered the sky, but there were encouraging patches of blue here and there. Thea and her dog had woken early, slowly surfacingto greet the morning and learn more about the people of Cranham. Outside, all was quiet and still.
Drew, she remembered, was coming that afternoon. The fresh-faced undertaker, who looked younger than his thirty-eight years. Drew was witty and bright, the best possible fun to talk to. It would be a treat to see him again.
She pottered through breakfast before taking a circuit of the garden with Hepzie, her mind more or less empty as she savoured the new day. In a while, she would mash up some banana for the geckoes and do a bit of dusting in the big living room. She had bought everything she needed for the next day or two – bread, biscuits, milk, eggs and more meat for herself and the dog in the woods.
The dog! That was her most urgent consideration for the coming morning. She should take more food for it – a much more difficult task in broad daylight, with the risk of being seen by passing walkers or cyclists. And the necessity of leaving Hepzie behind meant that she should go for another walk with her own dog, in a different direction. Suddenly she felt much busier, having forgotten for the moment her new responsibility.
Most dogs only fed once a day, in her experience. Perhaps, then, the new mother could wait at least until the afternoon. That would leave Thea with a pleasingly lazy morning, reading, emailing one or two people and not
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